# PHP search query fields

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 10, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388 "2016-02-10T14:32:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rashed\_Karim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Rashed\_Karim](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Rashed_Karim)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388/1 "2016-02-10T14:32:50Z")

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I have this search query which works fine, but I am unable to translate this into a PHP `$params` associative array.

```
POST /index/type/_search
{
   "fields": [
       "url"
       ],
   "query": {
      "query_string": {
         "default_field": "content.content",
         "query": "german"
      }
   },
   "highlight": {
      "fields": {
         "content.content": {}
      }
   }
}

```

What I have so far of the PHP associative array:

```
$params = [
			    'index' => $index_name,
			    'type' => 'type_name',
			    'body' => [
			    	'fields' => 'url' /* error */ 
			        'query' => [
			            'query_string' => [
			            	'default_field' => 'content.content',
			                'query' => '$term'
			            ]
			        ],
			        'highlight' => [
			        	'fields' => ['content.content'=> []] /* error */
			        ]
			    ]
			];
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![datashaman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/datashaman/32/7711_2.png) [@datashaman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/datashaman)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388/2 "2016-02-11T05:29:50Z")

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You've even marked the area where the error is with 'error'.

'fields' =\> ['url']

not

'fields' =\> 'url'

'fields' is plural, which hints at an array.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![datashaman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/datashaman/32/7711_2.png) [@datashaman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/datashaman)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388/3 "2016-02-11T05:30:36Z")

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You could also copy paste the JSON into php and use json\_decode() to get a PHP array.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![datashaman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/datashaman/32/7711_2.png) [@datashaman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/datashaman)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388/4 "2016-02-11T05:43:34Z")

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Don't use 'query' =\> '$term'. Just use 'query' =\> $term.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/php-search-query-fields/41388/5 "2017-07-05T23:17:21Z")

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